Kenyan Slum to Wesleyan, an Unlikely Journey

Kennedy Odede '12 comes from a background most American college kids can only joke about uncomfortably in an effort to fathom it, working odd jobs to feed himself and his younger siblings in one of Africa's largest slums even while pursuing an education:

While many students were startled by the violent altercation on Fountain Avenue last semester, public violence is nothing new for Kennedy Odede ’12. Hailing from the Kenyan slum of Kibera, Odede comes from a place where there are no police, a place where violence is the law.

“In Kibera, if you are caught stealing, they will put a tire on you, pour kerosene on the tire and then burn you alive,” Odede said. “I’ve seen that happen many times. I’m used to it.”

...“In the slum, even if you are a bright kid in high school, there is no way out,” he said. “You will be doing unskilled jobs from day to day for the rest of your life. That is what most of my friends are doing, and that is what my brothers want to do. There is no hope of a better life.”

In large part, Odede became enamored with the words of Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey, who argued that those of African ancestry should reclaim Africa from its European colonizers, a goal that could be worked toward, Garvey said, through an attitude of self-reliance.

“I was inferior because of poverty,” Odede said. “Garvey used to talk about how all people are equal and that changed my life.”

Read the first part of his amazing story in the Argus: From carrying rocks to carrying books: one student's journey

MSNBC's Graduation Dedication

By now you've all probably settled into some kind of summer routine (and here's to the hope that said routine is every bit as productive/ rewarding/ debauched as you intend it to be).

But here is yet another flashback from MSNBC's Nightly News to the graduation season of late May. This video montage dedicated to the class of 2008 shows bits from the commencement ceremonies of various schools around the country, but clearly most notable is the clip of Wesleyan's Taiko drummers and Barack Obama's address at 1:17:



Other commencement speakers featured in the segment (full addresses of several can be browsed on the site) are such luminaries as Al Gore at Carnegie Mellon, J.K. Rowling at Harvard, Angela Lansbury at UMiami... and George W. Bush at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

MSNBC.com: To The Class of 2008...

From Zimbabwe to Middletown

Mufaro Dube '08 is profiled in the Hartford Courant, for his story "of triumph over circumstance" which brought him from the economic turmoil of President Robert Mugabe's dictatorial regime in Zimbabwe to graduating from Wesleyan University, against great odds. Dube majored in Math and Economics, is headed to a job on Wall Street, and has some interesting perspective on our political whining:

He is a thrilled Barack Obama is delivering today's commencement address; Dube can parse the debate performance of the presumed Democratic nominee for president as enthusiastically as he can talk about the finer points of stocks and hybrid bonds. He sees some irony in Americans who complain their political process is broken. For his entire 22 years, Dube's country has known one president: Mugabe.

Hartford Courant: Out of Zimbabwe: Bet on Ambition Pays

The Essential Reading Week/Finals Mix

Here are four songs to get you through the next week. I have been listening to these every morning to get pumped. And man, I am so PUMPED!! It's so EXTREME!!! I'm so fucking ENERGIZED that it's 5:30am and I am watching my friend play Final Fantasy XII!!!!

I'm not even going to tell you their names. It's a guessing game. You like games, yes? Especially ludicrously easy ones? Unlike your life right now? Fine, okay, the song titles are in the file names, I don't even care.

Man, fuck finals.

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